Who better to inspire your back-to-school beauty look than the tough-yet-polished 1950s high school girls who held their own among the mods and the greasers? Whether they were skipping class or showing their support at drag races and street fights, they made you long for those perfect curls and that classic varsity jacket. Here, three of my favorite teenage tough girls—criminal record optional.

Natalie Wood as Judy in Rebel Without a Cause

Even while sharing the screen with the beautiful James Dean, Natalie grabbed attention with her enormous eyes and dark curly hair. To get her look, try defining and thickening your brows with a pencil like Anastasia’s Brow Wiz in Brunette ($20, sephora.com). And add a slick of bright red lipstick, like Avon’s Red 2000 ($7, avon.com).

Olivia Newton-John as Sandy in Grease

Sandy is at her toughest after her big makeover at the end of the movie, but I was always a fan of her sweet good-girl persona. To get her swingy ponytail, pull your hair back, secure it with an elastic and decorate it with a ribbon or vintage chiffon scarf. Curl the ends, let them cool and then brush it all out with your fingers before spraying your head with L’Oreal’s Elnett Hairpsray ($13, Target) for hold. For perfectly ’50s-style pink lips that will last even through an hour in the backseat (I’m not judging), try New York Color’s Smooch Proof Lip Stain in Persistent Pink ($5, drugstores).

I’m totally trying these looks! I love makeup and hair inspired by real people. I like Cherry’s look the best. I agree with toilets as well, but they both changed without knowing the other would change their looks as well..? They realized they would change themselves for each other, but in the end they didn’t care about what the other looked like..?

that part of grease has always confused me. when i was i think 7 or 8 i asked my sisters why she changed and they told me to ask my parents who told me to ask my sisters. (grease was frequently watched here so that wasn’t necessarily a strange thing for me to ask about.) but yeah, i guess danny changed for her too, when he tried running track or whatever?
i mean, it was made in the 70s and takes place in the 50s, but somehow it still confuses me!

Ooh Hannah you have outdone yourself with this – you look gorgeous (as always), and have picked the perfect choices! I have always loved Grease – pre and post “Bad Girl” makeover, I love Sandy (and the Pink Ladies)!

My three favorite 50s stories! And since I can be makeup clueless (I love wearing it, love certain looks, but can never figure out how to do something similar), I really appreciate the recommendations, Hannah!

As for the Grease debate, I always thought maybe Sandy was just trying it out, the Pink Lady look. And maybe it would bring her into her own and she would discover things she didn’t know about herself or maybe she would discover she was more comfortable as the old her, like Danny discovered. Maybe both of them would take pieces of their transformation and merge them together with the pieces they liked about their “old” selves. Maybe this is just me because between the ages of 11 and 19, I tried out so many different looks and attitudes to go along with them until I found the right blend of style that reflected how I felt inside–a combo of grunge, punk, goth, and admittedly a big chunk of Rizzo from Grease!

I thought the Outsiders was set in the 1960s. S.E. Hinton, its Tulsa writer, first published the book in 1967. I love the book & read it literally hundreds of times in grade school but saw the movie only once, and it’s been years. Did FFC set the movie during the 1950s instead of the book’s time period? Just wondering.

“A Place in the Sun” certainly featured some spectacular “soc” fashions modeled by the equally spectacular Liz Taylor, circa 1951.

OH MY GOSH! I knew I’d seen you before! I’ve watched your rant about pockets a couple of times on youtube! Okay, the excitement of this discovery is wearing off a bit now. But I totally agree with you about both pockets and Cherry.

Pelle, The Outsiders *is* set in the ’60s, but there were still greasers around at the time. It was seen as outdated, but that’s where the mods vs. rockers debate came in– greasers were “rockers” living in the past.

I’m from Tulsa and seeing continued praise of a story based at my high school still makes me swell with pride. REP OKLAHOMA 4EVER

Hi, queen people! April’s theme is BOTH SIDES NOW, which considers the many different answers to THE BIG QUESTIONS, whatever those are for you. If you’ve got a project or pitch about seeing things in a whole new light, please email it to submission@rookiemag.com.

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